1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to devices for dispensing individual sheets of a soap leaf material and more specifically relates to such devices that have a linearly movable dispensing member for frictionally engaging a sheet to be dispensed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lightweight individually sized sheets formed of a thin layer of soap have become popular as a substitute for cake or liquid soap in applications where it is convenient or necessary to dispense individual portions of a soap substance. Several types of dispensing devices have been developed and used in the past for the convenient dispensing of these lightweight soap sheets one at a time, as disclosed in Greene U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,151,771; 3,226,110 and 3,051,352.
In Greene U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,771, soap leaf sheets are arranged in a stacked relation in a carton which is disposed in an enclosure housing. The housing has a bottom end opening by which the bottom sheet of the stack of sheets is exposed so that a user can press a finger or fingers against such sheet and withdraw it from its carton.
In Greene U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,051,352 and 3,226,110, a carton of stacked sheets is also employed inside a housing. However, in contrast to the structure of Greene U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,771, the structures of both of these later Greene patents include roller type dispensing devices that are rotated to engage the bottom sheet of a stack of soap leaf sheets and dispense it through a slot in the housing.
the present invention differs from each of the above-described structures by employing a linearly slidable and pivotal dispensing member for engaging a sheet to be dispensed such that in a simple one-step operation, it is insured that an individual soap leaf sheet will be dispensed from its enclosure housing.